


lesson #37: nightmares

by muslimsmoak



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Canon, Comfort, Drabble, F/M, Ficlet, Gen, Idk what the short ones are called, Nightmares, Step-mom and step-son bonding time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 04:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13539486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muslimsmoak/pseuds/muslimsmoak
Summary: A quick little ficlet based off a tumblr prompt. Anon asked: Anything canon with the Smoak-Queen family. William making breakfast for Oliver and Felicity. William having a nightmare and Felicity is the one to comfort him





	lesson #37: nightmares

Felicity Smoak(-Queen) and sleep have not been on a first name basis since before her days at MIT. She would pull frequent all-nighters on coding assignments with nothing but coffee and tears as her studying tools. After graduation, she joined the IT department at Queen Consolidated and her sleep schedule somewhat resembled a sense of normalcy again minus a few late night stays due to her supervisor making her do extra work and such but that soon changed once a man with blue eyes and blond hair brought a bullet-riddled laptop to her desk. Those days are long gone now, what with managing a start-up, being Overwatch to now a team of two crime-fighting heroes that consisted of her husband and her best friend-slash-brother, who was also her husband’s best friend-slash-brother.

 _Huh, I wonder who John considers his number one best friend. Probably me._ Felicity thought to herself, smiling at the thought of being John Diggle’s number one best friend.

Anyways, John Diggle was not her reason for having woken up from an impromptu nap right now. Her reasons for waking up was, in fact, her step-son, Will. She had heard him shout out in distress and that had startled her awake and take in her surroundings. The noises coming from his room resembled his father when he was having one of his nightmares and Felicity had to assume that Will was going through the same ordeal. After all, he had been through a lot in the past years. _Kidnapped by Darkh, Kidnapped by Chase, hmmm...maybe Oliver and I should have a talk with him about stranger danger and all that. Bet there’s a chapter on that in the parenting book. Or a scholarly article somewhere citing research._ She stood from her spot on the couch and headed towards Will’s room to see what the commotion was. She stopped in front of his door, raised her hand against the door and knocked.

“Will? William? Are you okay in there?” She asked all worried. Her questions were met with more sounds of distress.

“William, I’m coming in there.” She pushed away the door and sped towards his bed. Will was lying on his side, in the throes of a nightmare. She crouched down and started gently nudging his shoulder.

“Will? William? Wake up, hon. You’re safe, hon. Wake up.” She said as she kept trying wake the boy from his nightmares.

After a few more tries, Will woke with a start, startled at the presence in his room. Felicity removed her hand from his shoulders and took a step back, to respect his space.

“Uhhh, Felicity? What are you doing in my room?” He said with a groggy voice. He moved and sat on his bed.

“I heard noises coming from your room. I was worried.” She answered back, looking at him.

“You okay, Will?” She asked, pursing her lips.

Will shook his head, “I’m fine. Just another nightmare.”

Felicity sat at the end of the bed. Unsure what to do with her hands, Felicity moved them about, “You, uh, wanna talk about it? I may have some experience in dealing with nightmares more often than not.” She remarked.

“Dad gets them too, huh?” Will asked.

She bobbed her head, “Occasionally…..and sometimes so do I.”

Will’s eyes widened, “You have them too?”

Felicity replied, “Of course. The hero life doesn’t come without dangers. Which you already know about. Being kidnapped and all…..I didn’t…. Probably not a good idea to bring up prior trauma. Parenting no-no….. Anyways, you wanna tell me what happened?”

Will looked at her as if he was still deciding on what to do. After a few moments, he tucked his head down and spoke. “It was Dad. He was in the field. He got hurt…..and he didn’t make it home.”

“Oh,” Felicity whispered.

Will added, “I know what you said at the bunker about the dangers and sacrifices and I get it. I do. This is what Dad does best and I won’t stop him. The city needs him as much as I do……..I guess my mind is still having trouble accepting it.”

Felicity spoke, “Will, it’s okay not to be okay with it. It takes time and acceptance. I’ve been working alongside your dad for 6 years now and I am just as nervous now as I was then every time he puts on the hood.”

She moved her legs and sat criss-cross on the bed, slightly closer to Will. “This is what he does and he does it well. He’s amazing at it.” She turned her head, her eyes glimmering, remembering all the times Oliver had saved someone and the good he had done.

Looking back at Will, she continued speaking. “But sometimes it’s tough out there. The bad guys are bigger or stronger….. _Mirakuru…._ Or they’re completely insane…. _Ra’s, Darkh, Chase..._ But he will always fight them. There were times when I thought I lost him….. _Ra’s sword…..being taken by Chase for a week…._ But he always came back. And he will always come back to you.. To me...to us. All because he has something to live for….”

Will took in Felicity’s words. Moments passed and Felicity was unsure of the next step. _That pep talk seemed to have worked. Probably could’ve done without the mentioning his kidnappings. What now? Do I read him a bedtime story? Give him milk?_

An idea popped into her head, “Just how awake are you right now?” Felicity asked.

“I’d say pretty awake,” Will answered.

“You wanna play a couple more rounds on the Xbox and then maybe try falling asleep again? It is still a school night.” She said.

Will smiled, “Sure.”

Felicity smiled back. “Perfect, you go wash up and I’ll meet you in the living room. She stood up from his bed. She turned to face him. “Also, maybe don’t tell your dad about this. While I may approve of this one time late night game sesh, he might not, okay?”

Will laughed, “I won’t tell.”

Felicity joined him in laughing. Soon, Felicity and Will stayed up another hour playing Injustice. They were arguing about who had won the last round when Oliver had walked in, ready to sleep the night away after a long night at City Hall. He was not pleased with Will staying up so late and walked in with a stern look. But that was nothing on both his wife’s and his son’s pouty face.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed reading. Please leave a comment if you like.


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